1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a carrier of contacts and a method for making a final type of each contact from the carrier, and especially for making right angled contacts each of which has a plurality of compliant pins extending therefrom.
2. The Prior Art
Compliant pins have become popular in establishing contact with conductors in a multi-layer board, a back plane, or a simple circuit board having a plated through hole. A compliant pin has a compliant portion which has a normal width greater than the hole diameter but which can be deformed when it is loaded into the circuit board hole so that contact edge portions of the compliant portion will establish the electrical connection required with the conductors in the circuit board hole. The compliant portion thus is essentially a relatively stiff spring arrangement which, after insertion into the circuit board hole, will bear against the periphery of the hole with sufficient force to retain the pin in the circuit board and to establish a sound electrical contact with the circuit board conductors.
Some commonly known types of compliant pins are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,186,982, 4,743,081, 4,206,964, and 4,606,589. Normally, the contacts are formed in a line of a carrier by which the contacts are simultaneously machined and then loaded into the housing of the connector. The related technique can be seen in Taiwan Pat. Nos. 79,204,276, 79,207,855, 79,209,166 and 83,100,727.
For example, in FIGS. 4 and 5A, a conventional contact carrier 8 comprises a plurality of contacts 80 connected to a guiding strip 81. Each contact 80 comprises a mating portion 82 for receiving and contacting with a plug-type contact of a complementary connector (not shown), an engagement portion 83 for interferentially engaging with inner walls of a corresponding passageway of a housing which receives the contact, and a soldering tail portion 84 for being soldered to a circuit board.
Referring to FIG. 5B, the mating portion 82 is bent to form a U-shaped structure for receiving the plug-type contact of the complementary connector. An intermediate portion 86 between the engagement portion 83 and the tail portion 84 is perpendicularly bent so as to form a right angled portion of the contact 80.
Although this carrier can meet the installation of the contacts to the housing to some extent, some problems still exist during formation of the final contacts. For example, a coining procedure is executed for removing the burs existing on the tail portion 84 and forming a round edge on the tail portion 84. However, since the guiding strip 81 is directly connected to the tail portions 84, the operation of the coining procedure may destroy the engagement between the guiding strip 81 and the tail portions 84 and affect the installation of the contacts 80 to the housing. Since the right angled contact requires a bending procedure to form the right angled intermediate portion 86, an additional jig and an alignment procedure are required which complicates assembly and increases manufacturing costs.
Hence, it is requisite to provide a new contact carrier to solve the above problems as encountered in the conventional contact carrier.